That Storm on the Horizon
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [poetry novel] The war was coming, and they could only fight the storm.
1. The storm is near, on the night horizon

**A/N:** Written for the Dicing Up Songs Challenge on the Poetry Craze, using the song Black Intruder (Digimon Tamers – Beelzemon's Theme Song).

* * *

**That Storm on the Horizon  
1\. The storm is near, on the night horizon  
(…Harry…)**

It comes: the storm of reckoning on the outer shores  
and the angry clouds can't be watched anymore. He's turned away  
'cause they're burning too big holes in his mind – there's no need  
to look there a ways, 'cause he'll never forget that brand in his head.

No amount of glaring's gonna make that angry ball of flame turn away  
towards the angry sky and churning sea – a cauldron hiding black,  
a black wall waiting to swallow the storm up whole

But now, the storm's a coming now, and Thor's big grand hammer  
can't stop it; he can only wait it out, the silent echoes that come  
before tearing screams with the dawn –

He wondered which would come first; the son on that black horizon  
or the storm?


	2. The shining lightning illuminates my bod

**That Storm on the Horizon  
2\. The shining lightning illuminates my body  
(…Voldermort…)**

The curtains have pulled back and he shows his shadow-cloak off;  
there's no need to wear it now after all since the boat has already docket  
and the flood's rearing to go.

He's ready to let it loose as well, ready to let it tear and claw at the world  
until it crumbled, until it became a fine coat of sand on the ocean floor  
amidst other equally nameless grains of sand  
that vanish from sight, from mind, as the water rages on and drowns the world  
gasping for its last breath of air  
as the storm.


	3. My winged shape falls on the ground

**That Storm on the Horizon  
3\. My winged shape falls on the ground  
(…Harry…)**

They are the storm  
that struggles to rise up from the heavy ocean that has swept them  
off their still too tender feet and drowned them  
without a godforsaken thought.

They are the storm  
that tries to push back the shadow cloak from whence it came

But its clasps are now loose and catch their flailing wings  
easily in the air, dropping them  
so the sky thinks and stays black save that light: the black sun  
from an even more dark horizon –

They seek to blow it away: remove it, so that their tender sun  
can rise, and for now they hide it away in the storm  
so it stays grey and away from the bloody sea  
who would seize and drown it in an instant could he reach.

But the black sun is a spitting mass of electricity that pushes the storm down  
and slowly crushes it, thinks it out

And yet they struggle on.


	4. Reflecting bewitchingly, blacker than da

**That Storm on the Horizon  
4\. Reflecting bewitchingly, blacker than darkness  
(…Voldermort…)**

The old sun was a spell that had long ago drawn him in  
and embraced him with that warm flame, that lying hope.  
He'd been a fool to hope:  
he still bore the wretched scars  
of that hope.

His new sun was of a different matter: no ball of flame  
but rather lightning that spat sparks and forked its snake like tongue

More beautiful, he thought, and more true  
to that dark world it festered

And he'd grown to love that world, to drive it further  
into the shadows, so that his spitting lightning sun  
would be the only path, the only source of light  
until he switched it off and recreated the world  
into perfection from its dark.

He would bring all the butterflies of the world  
into his hold.


	5. Who is calling me?

**That Storm on the Horizon  
5\. Who is calling me?  
(…Harry…)**

Sometimes he wished he could hide his face within the sand  
and let it cover him" a worm fire shawl that would bury him  
beneath the rapidly flooding world  
and safe

But he couldn't be safe: the lightning sun continued to crash  
and burn away that storm  
that still encased the world.

He had to keep fuelling that storm: it screamed at him,  
pleased for his help

And even if it hadn't he didn't think he could just turn away  
from the other caller: the man who blew the trumpet of his death  
as he'd blown…so long ago.


	6. Someone who desires fighting?

**That Storm on the Horizon  
6\. Someone who desires fighting?  
(…Voldermort…)**

Fighting…was such a time-consuming thing that dragged out  
the inevitable; it was coming – the floods and the crumbling land  
could not starve themselves from it, or shy away forever;

The ocean of destruction had existed long before the feeble land  
and the empty sun cackled of electricity in the world before  
he was born –

Time was the fool who thought the world's path could change  
by fighting the inevitable: the lightning that knew only one thing.  
Destruction.


	7. Am I ready?

**That Storm on the Horizon  
7\. Am I ready?  
(…Harry…)**

The storm is here: a chaotic gale of wind and blood and rain  
and it holds the lightning at bay.

It also incites it: makes it cackle madly, with pain and loss  
and insanity

But it's a war, and they're all losing track of their sanity  
and the lives around them, in the storm.  
They can't see the corpses: they've been whipped up by the wind  
but they're there, and they can't pretend they're not.

Some of them weren't even ready to die  
but they hadn't had a choice: the lightning that struck  
through the dust and past the storm.

He was the eye of the storm: the one it revolved around  
as the lighting failed to perforate so deep  
but he couldn't hide in the storm forever –

He had something to do  
but he couldn't take too long.

But he wasn't ready yet  
and even though people were dying and bathing the sea in blood  
there was no choice but to wait.


	8. I don't even have time to kneel

**That Storm on the Horizon  
8\. I don't even have time to kneel  
(…Voldermort…)**

Less people are standing up now to his lightning whips shaking the ground  
and cutting what uprooted grass thought they could bend their necks  
and hide – but those were the ones who could become a threat to him  
so he mowed them down as well –

He wasn't going to let any stone grow  
in that futile storm, hammered with strength  
and thinking they could defeat him, and his overpowering lightning whip,  
thinking they could win.

He didn't have the time to dance with delusions  
such as those: his power and pride not enough to blind him  
from that pool.


	9. My black wings are proof of my aloofness

**That Storm on the Horizon  
9\. My black wings are proof of my aloofness  
(…Harry…)**

He is the eye of the storm.  
It was a seat he'd never asked for, never desired  
but he'd been marked, been chosen  
and his black wings could never fly him away  
from that fate

And they were weighted, those wings, with the  
blood of sacrifice and guilt and those souls  
who trusted and helped him even now –

He _has_ to fly above, he has to make his  
battleground in the eye,  
make his advantage  
so when the lightning strikes, it hits solid ground  
and his wings have an opening in which to push back.

Until then he waits in the shadow, in the eye  
near-alone: plotting, planning, setting up,  
watching…waiting.


	10. I control all of darkness

**That Storm on the Horizon  
10\. I control all of darkness  
(…Voldermort…)**

His enemies tried to hide behind shadows, behind the storm  
but he controlled the shadows: he'd lived in them  
and now his lightning god-like whip banished them  
leaving nowhere to hide.

There was still the storm: that curtain of wind and dust  
and stone-like little wasps,  
but they were as deadly as the wasps as well  
and he could let it weather down as he caught the fools  
at the edge.

They eye would eventually open up, come to him  
and whatever little plan he'd prepared  
would fail.

The sun was held high  
but it would fall, soon  
when the storm died

And when the eye fell,  
the storm would fall down  
as well.


	11. I'll keep on tearing apart, I'll keep on

**That Storm on the Horizon  
11\. I'll keep on tearing apart, I'll keep on challenging  
(…Harry…)**

Hope was such an easy thing to lose – so fickle  
but he desperately hung on; he needed it  
because he couldn't stop fighting now.

He was just scratching, scratching barely felt,  
deceptively, but scraping away little life cells  
and exposing a little bit more flesh  
where a sword could run through.

He'd thought that the storm was just an annoyance  
but it was wearing him slowly down, without his know.  
He just had to hold on to that,  
even as his skin thinned, went slowly red.

They couldn't attack head on, not yet, not  
while the other was a god above the sun, with his lightning  
whip. They had to chip away first  
at those chains that bound him to his eternal life  
and that held him above the clouds.


	12. Those who will see my shape twice would

**That Storm on the Horizon  
12\. Those who will see my shape twice would say  
(…Voldermort…)**

Fear was so easy to spread.  
No-one saw his face more than once  
(except for _him_)  
but little shadows moving in the night  
were enough.

His influence was firm: even if he sat quietly  
The place would empty of foe and dirty mid  
just from fear

But fear needed food, and he feed it: little scratches  
to the storm and the slowly thinning whirl of dust  
spread his electric hold even deeper, even more firm.

One day, he wouldn't even need to show his face again  
and he could just put the light out, leave the world in darkness

But not when _he_ was still there, hiding in the storm.  
Not while the storm still blew.


	13. No one's around

**That Storm on the Horizon  
13\. No one's around  
(…Harry…)**

He had to fight like a coward, like a thief,  
breaking through back alleys clouded from watchful eyes  
by fog and smoke

But battling the darkness with the lightning whip  
was impossible, was useless otherwise  
and the electrical net would catch him  
and not let go –

He needed to cut those things first:  
those chains that made him invulnerable –

And then it'd be the time to attack  
head on.


	14. Those spoiled kids who Believe and such

**That Storm on the Horizon  
14\. Those spoiled kids who Believe and such  
(…Voldermort…)**

He'd let them get too complacent, too confident:  
this could have all been over with  
long ago, but it dawdled on…

He wasn't in so big a rush after all;  
the end would be coming anyway  
no matter how they struggled, wondered blindly  
in their little nets, closed on top.

He didn't think they'd ever win: he'd given lives  
time he'd never planned to give  
but nothing hd come of it: nothing he saw  
a threat of any sort.

He'd been so successful at first as well, thinking  
someone like that might come  
but they hadn't, and he didn't think they'd be coming  
now.


	15. Don't know the words to say betrayal

**That Storm on the Horizon  
15\. Don't know the words to say betrayal  
(…Harry…)**

Maybe he is still too young an eye  
to keep the storm in tact: he is too small, too soft,  
battered about, unlike the lighting  
that had long since learnt its form.

He hadn't thought he'd have to watch the storm  
as well as the lighting that struck from every corner  
but not he cursed his body battered by both.

He needs to grow up now, be less young, more sharp  
and an adult, less trusting, less open, less desperate

But he couldn't not be desperate  
with how weak the storm was getting  
and how strong the lightning that battered it  
was.


	16. Loneliness makes me strong

**That Storm on the Horizon  
16\. Loneliness makes me strong  
(…Voldermort…)**

His horde of followers is slowly thinning  
but as long as the whip of lightning in his hand  
still freezes and shocks the world, he doesn't care –  
he has the power of the world  
in his hands.

He didn't need a horde of followers to stand behind his throne.  
The approaching wave would wipe them  
with the old world, and he'd remake it – make it his  
and his alone

And he'd make the perfect place,  
the place that didn't exist  
in this world.


	17. I've been given my wings and guns

**That Storm on the Horizon  
17\. I've been given my wings and guns  
(…Harry…)**

He isn't a warrior, but the sword's hilt  
has been placed in his hand  
and the sword will bleed his hand if he doesn't  
use it, swing it around

Scatter the storm with specks of blood  
as an extra veil, to keep the lightning at bay  
as he dug in the mud behind, unearthing the soft flesh  
he could strike beneath the lightening rod striking down –

If he could just drop the sword and hide,  
but there was too much riding  
on that sword  
and his hands.


	18. The things that you protect

**That Storm on the Horizon  
18\. The things that you protect  
(…Voldermort…)**

If he was on the losing end he was sure  
he would have given up

Let the storm die and be swamped  
by the ever-approaching tides.

Why hold them up? The wave they caused when they collapsed  
would be even, more devastating for the wait  
and it wouldn't just ebb and flow away:  
his lightning whips had long since cut through the barrier, shape  
and he wouldn't let them rebuild.

Was what they wanted to protect so great  
that they'd push on nonetheless?

He wouldn't be so self-sacrificing  
for the things he needed to protect.  
Not even the fragments of his soul  
were worth his life.


	19. Are they really precious

**That Storm on the Horizon  
19\. Are they really precious  
(…Harry…)**

The storm that embraces him is saturated  
with blood young and old – blood from a time  
he hadn't even heard of, been born

But it's all on him now, the blood dropping storm  
making him more drenched, more black and corpse-like  
each day

And if that's him, who didn't see the start, like this, what's  
the world? A pain covered in illusionary moss: that  
lattice that stings due to the lightning sun…

Was the win under all their water and light and storm  
worth the silence that would come  
with the end of the war they'd known?


	20. Make sure that it's worth it

**That Storm on the Horizon  
20\. Make sure that it's worth it  
(…Voldermort…)**

He doesn't particularly care; the world is already  
in his palm. There's no sacrifice  
left to make,

Mothing to do  
that would bring the outcome forth  
our send it away;  
all had already been set in to stone.

Whether it would be worth it or not was something  
he'd decided all too long ago  
when he'd started down this path:

It was too late now  
to think otherwise.


	21. To bet your life

**That Storm on the Horizon  
21\. To bet your life  
(…Harry…)**

He knew his life was a price he'd more than likely  
have to pay: the smallest perhaps  
because friends and family were already  
too dear a price  
to behold

But he could do nothing after: pay no price,  
take no spoil as his reward.

Maybe it was for his own satisfaction  
that he wanted to be the one  
to drive the sword home himself

But his life wasn't too high a price  
to pay –  
for _his_ defeat.


	22. The Storm was Howling

**That Storm on the Horizon  
22\. The storm is howling  
(…Voldermort…)**

The fortress' walls were beginning to crumble  
in the storm: the end was fast approaching –  
that final dawn.

The storm roared even loader than before,  
sensing his blood too close, almost close  
enough to take.  
it was now too close  
to just let go: the forked tongue shot out  
hungrily, tasting that bitter tang  
in the air

The fortress' walls were crumbling.  
The time to spring had come  
because beneath the fortress wasn't something  
that needed protecting,  
but holding back  
until the end.


	23. I choose only the strong ones who know t

**That Storm on the Horizon  
23\. I choose only the strong ones who know the truth  
(…Harry…)**

The final fight had come.  
Time had run out

…but there was still more to do, battles to fight  
before the war: big finale demanded –  
but now it was too late.  
There was no time  
and a whole world behind those crumbling walls  
they had to protect.

He had to trust them with that, trust those walls  
would withstand the crashing lightning on its shore:  
the wind was now too small, a concentrated ball  
of energy that needed to find two more things,  
_one_ more thing  
that no-one knew,

That no-one now _could_ know.

It was the centre of the storm that drove  
the lightning forth;  
it was the final act, and the sword to kill him  
still had to be made.


	24. In the position to give the act of destr

**That Storm on the Horizon  
24\. In the position to give the act of destruction  
(…Voldermort…)**

This mass of followers swarmed time grounds  
through those holes: everyone –  
his basket was more than full  
of tempest concentrated cells ready  
to tear that fortress down  
to its knees –

The waiting was over; the gate had crumbled to gentle bullets  
and now he unleashed his true wrath: the lightning of Zeus  
that crashed and dragged the fortress down –

Or that was what he planned,  
but the wind storm that struggled to drove his own away  
still raged

And now it reared its head.


	25. The one who is able to perform is

**That Storm on the Horizon  
25\. The one who is able to perform is  
(…Harry…)**

Everybody else is fighting  
but he can only sneak around because he knew  
there's more riding on the storm than its walls –

Those walls need to stand, but more important is  
that which fuels the lightning needs  
to be unplugged –

He has to stop it at its source.  
he wants to be there at the end  
but anyone can do that,  
it's this he has to do,  
to kill the lightning storm  
and free the wind.


	26. Only me, right

**That Storm on the Horizon  
26\. Only me, right  
(…Voldermort…)**

There was only one person who could kill him  
or so they say, so they believe.  
The truth was that he couldn't die –  
or so he thought, he believed…

His immortality was crumbling away,  
his death becoming visible, possible

But for now, it was still invisible, still hidden  
in the darkness and too bright lights;  
He still had his Hocrux, his eternal life.

He wasn't going to die by anyone's hands.

Not even him.


	27. My black wings are proof of my aloofnes2

**That Storm on the Horizon  
27\. My black wings are proof of my aloofness  
(…Harry…)**

He's taken on black wings to carry him  
to certain death, with a company of angels  
following

Because it's a silent procession  
until the cloak comes off and reveals him:  
the martyr who's been white within the eye  
of the storm and is now the perfect lamb  
for sacrifice

But it's too late to be just a lamb now  
after holding the sword: the sword he  
back then  
didn't want

But he had the sword now  
and even if he was walking to death,  
he was fighting on.


	28. I control all of darkness2

**That Storm on the Horizon  
28\. I control all of darkness  
(…Voldermort…)**

He had won now; the only one who could kill him  
was dead, spread eagle on the ground  
so he, the victor, could feast upon his blood  
and flesh  
like a vulture  
enjoying the carnage of his prey

And he unleashes the lightning in one go: that  
pent up force to explode and blind the world

And he waits for the world to fall  
into full darkness:

His darkness,  
the final darkness.


	29. I'll keep on tearing apart, I'll keep o2

**That Storm on the Horizon  
29\. I'll keep on tearing apart, I'll keep on challenging  
(…Harry…)**

He was dead  
for a while.

He's alive now.  
He's still ready to fight  
and fighting  
and now there's a little more light.

_He's_ lost his cards:  
they're even now

But even if they weren't,  
if he was still alive he'd keep on fighting  
until one of them was dead.

He'd died to protect them.  
He was still alive to protect them

And this fight would go on  
until the end.


	30. Those who will see my shape twice would2

**That Storm on the Horizon  
30\. Those who will see my shape twice would say  
(…Voldermort…)**

For the first time in his life he felt fear  
as though a ghost, one who'd haunted him in life  
had returned from the freshly dead

And he could feel it now, the transparency,  
the stretch, the sketchiness in his body

But he's still powerful, even if he's blown his ace away  
and his storm's dying:  
the wind's taking over: their hope, their screams  
cheering for his destruction

As if he could die!  
But now, if he lost,  
he could.


	31. No one's around2

**That Storm on the Horizon  
31\. No one's around  
(…Harry…)**

And just like that, it's over. The wind rages on  
and the dark clouds part  
to let the sun through again, to smile  
upon a grey world  
that needs to be recoloured.

They're still turning around with masks placed back  
in shadows, waiting for _him_ to pop up again  
and bind this world

But no one's there; there's just an awkward peace  
and the sun  
and the ocean sky they see again  
draining blood.


End file.
